POWERENG 2009

Lisbon, Portugal, March 18-20, 2009

Electric Vehicles and their Impact to the Electric Grid

in isolated systems
Petr Kadurek, Christos Ioakimidis, Paulo Ferro
IST, Lisbon, Portugal and MIT|Portugal Program, Portugal
petr.kadurek@gmail.com

Abstract- Energy systems are frequently based on imported

fossil fuels, and this is a problem in different dimensions
including, the environmental, the economic and the security of
supply, the latter being particularly relevant for any isolated
system, like Islands. Renewable energy is regarded as a solution to
this problem, particularly considering its transformation in
electricity but this does not include the impact of the
transportation sector, which represents a significant component of
the imported fuels consumption. The other main limitations
associated to renewable electricity consists on the need to increase
the storage capacity that might attenuate the effect of renewable
energy sources intermittence and disparity between supply and
demand. In both these main problems associated with renewable
energy management, the Plug-in Electric Vehicles (EV) could be a
part of the solution in that the use of the vehicle to grid (V2G)
technology can provide storage of electric energy during low
demand times and use it to match the demand in peak hours
and/or to avoid fossil fuel consumption.

together with the governments would have to make significant

active efforts to develop and enforce the usage of low emission
vehicles [2].
In addition, the Hybrid EV and Plug-in EV constitute
nowadays a major research topic and the hybrid electrical
vehicle including as a primary energy source an internal
combustion engine and as a secondary mover an electrical
motor constitutes an intermediate step in the direction of the
electric vehicle use while being readily available because its
use does not require a new fuel supply infrastructure.
The use of Plug-in Electrical Vehicles (EV) is more
challenging as they are directly powered by electric energy.
However, the plug-in EV can provide a wide range of
service for the electric generation chain (ancillary services,
regulation, back up power and peak shifting). The plug-in EV
would be primarily used for transportation, but when not in
use, the EVs could be connected to the grid, providing storage
and supply services to the grid approximately for 96% of the
day [3].
The plug-in EV will be always close to the energy demand,
and efficiency of stored energy in EVs batteries is potentially
significantly higher than the energy stored in hydrogen and in
fuel cells hydrogen cars. Moreover the hydrogen cars have just
limited capacity to provide ancillary services to the grid in
comparison to EV [4], [5].
This paper provides an analysis of the potential role of EV in
the sustainability of an isolated energy system, in the

However, could the large scale EV penetration lead to

increasing the fraction of electricity from renewable? Is the usage
of EV batteries like as a storage system truly the best solution? Is
the EV a better solution for the vehicles owner than the internal
combustion vehicle from an economical point of view? This paper
analyses a case study in the Island of So Miguel in Azores, where
energy systems modeling is used to assess how far large scale EV
penetration may lead to increasing the potential for the use of
renewable electricity, and discusses the possible revenues for EV
owners from providing vehicle to grid power.

INTRODUCTION

The instability of Crude Oil prices motivates numerous

questions related to the future need for replacement of crude oil
and derived products. Crude oil-based products are part of our
everyday life, from health equipments (through numerous
artifacts that makes modern life possible), to power generation
and transportation. Therefore the production shortage or high
prices of fuel can very easily and very directly affect our lives.
Therefore, the increasing dependence of the transportation
sector on fossil fuels needs special attention [1].
In addition, environmental problems, particularly those
associated to global warming, as a consequence of carbon
dioxide and air pollution in urban areas are already perceived
by the society as very serious. These problems together with
the Kyoto Protocol measurements push manufactures to
introduce more effective and environment friendly internal
combustion (IC) engines or hybrid engines. The transportation
sector alone represents about 20% of the total CO2 emissions
from fuel. It is in this context that the automobile industry

978-1-4244-2291-3/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

Estimated Daily Electricity Demand untill 2020, S. Miguel

[%]

2020

61

2015

67

2010

54

Year

[year]

Fuell

Renewables Potential

I.

Wind
Geo

2006

54

Hydro

500

1000

1500

2000

[MWh] 2500

Electricity Demand

Fig. 1. The Estimated Daily Electricity Demand untill 2020, S. Miguel. The
Estimation is based on measured results and Governments plans for new
power plants in S. Miguel [6].

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POWERENG 2009

Lisbon, Portugal, March 18-20, 2009

millage of one way trip and Dbu, the average mileage buffer to
return from that trip. The Eff is the EVs driving consumption
and the Effi is the EVs inverter efficiency. In order to ensure a
safe trip, the value Esaf is taken into account. The safety range
was chosen in order to represent the way to the nearest first aid
point in case of emergency, from any starting point on the
Island. The average annual electricity consumption is
2 188kWh per EV. In terms of Portuguese electricity prices
and offpeak charging, the annual consumption is only 134.
However the limitations factor for customers would be the

Portuguese Azoress archipelago, in the Atlantic Ocean, which

is located 1500km west from Portugal and 3900km east from
USA. The So Miguel Island is the largest Island from the
Azoress archipelago with about 140 000 inhabitants.
II. ELECTRICITY DEMAND
So Miguel Island is the main electricity consumer in the
whole Azoress archipelago. There is no power connection to
any major grid or even between other Islands. Considering an
increasing energy efficiency, demand side management
policies and successfully implementations of end user policies,
the demand growth has been estimated to increase 4% per year
until the year 2015 and 2% until 2020, as represented in
Table I. The analysis and forecast of the electricity demand
shows a significant increase of the wind electricity production
during the winter and autumn seasons. The winter season
demand curve has the highest annual demand peak and could
be the most problematic in terms of charging and discharging
electric vehicles. The estimated So Miguels daily electricity
demand for 2010, 2015 and 2020 is shown in Table I.
The estimated growth is based on measured reference data
from 2006 [6].
The electricity demand growth included as well a plan to
expand geothermal and wind farms is reflected up to the year
2013. Figure 1 shows the estimated electricity demand and
renewable potential share.

TABLE II
TOYOTA RAV 4 EV (VEHICLE SPECIFICATION)

1269 MWh/day
1484 MWh/day
1806 MWh/day
1994 MWh/day

Battery Capacity
Battery weigh
Number of Battery modules
Weight of Battery Module
Nominal Module Voltage
Nominal System Voltage
Maximal Range
Minimal Range
Average Range

27 kWh
551 kg
24
21 kg
12 V
288 V
190 km
130 km
150 km

initial investment on EV, cost of the vehicle (between $60 000

and $100 000) [7], [13].
IV. DIFFERENT POWER MARKETS
In this section we briefly describe different types of power
supply markets. The quantitative comparison analyzes the EV
penetration impact on the possible power capacity and the
economic benefits for users.
The estimated prices and the possible EV impact to improve
the management of the load curve is consider in this section as
a theoretical maximum impact in order to maximize EV
owners revenues.
There are four different types of markets relevant to possible
usage of EV.
A. Baseload and off-peak load
Baseload is used as a base for power generation and is
generated round-the-clock, typically by large power plants that
have low production costs. Baseload power plants are paid per
generated kWh [8], [9].

TABLE III
ESTIMATED VALUES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

TABLE I
ESTIMATED ELECTRICITY DEMAND S. MIGUEL

2006
2010
2015
2020

Bcap
Bweigh

Value

Values from Vehicles Specifications [8].

The necessary electric and statistic properties of EV are

needed in order to study and propose the scenarios.
The estimated electric properties are based on real existing
and operating EV based on the Toyota RAV4 EV. The main
characteristics of the vehicle are shown in Table II [7].
The impact of EV penetration of the Azoress light vehicles
fleet is based on Azores reports and Azores statistics
information. Related to this information we have used the
worse case for the average annual millage for light diesel
vehicles. This assumption should prevent the future rebound
effect error, as well. EV values are shown in the Table III [7].
Vehicle characteristics were used for modeling the EV use,
such as presented in Table III. The Es value represents the
useful stored energy in EVs batteries, according to a safety
use and the batterys depletion level. The values Ddr and Dbu
are estimated from the average annual mileage for Azoress
fleet (S. Miguel, 15 706km) and the Ddr represents the average

Electricity Demand

Description

Rmax
Rmin
R

III. EV PROPERTIES

Year

Symbol

Based and estimated from measured results. Scenarios already include

newly planed power plants on S. Miguel [6].

Symbol

Description

Es
Ddr
Dbu
Eff
Effi
Esaf

Useful Energy in Batteries

Average millage simple way
Millage buffer for return way
Driving Consumption
Inverter Efficiency
Safety Range (First Aid)

Value
21,6 kWh
21,5 km
21,5 km
0,139 kWh/km
75 %
38,75 km

Values based on Toyota RAV4 EV Vehicle Specifications and annual

average millage of S.Miguel fleet [7].

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Lisbon, Portugal, March 18-20, 2009

B. Peak power
Peak power is used to cover the highest peaks of power
demand. The peaking power plants generally run only when
there is a high electricity demand. These power plants are used
to cover peak hours, especially during afternoon demand
peaks. The peak power plants operation time can vary from
many hours a day to just a few hours a day or year. Operation
time depends on the condition of the electric grid and highly
influences its unit operation costs. Related to these conditions
and to the fewer year usage, these power plants are normally
designed to operate with more expensive fuel than baseload
power plants, as they are designed as low capital cost power
plants. The construction of more efficient peak power plants to
be used only a few hours a year could be very expensive and
makes no economical sense. Because the peak power plants are
confronted with the fluctuating power demand conditions, the
gas turbines or fuel or diesel engines are normally used. In So
Miguel, these power plants are constituted by large diesel
engines.
The peak power plant is usually the last economically
efficient power plant in the electricity production chain. The
starting or stopping of the peak power plant is usually
somehow penalized in price terms. Peak power plants are paid
per generated kWh, generated peak power is more expensive
than base load power [10].

of ten minutes. Operating reserves are paid in relation to their

availability and eventually to provide energy [8], [9], [11].
The ancillary services are used in the power generation chain
to keep the voltage and frequency steady. The regulation is
used only for short times, usually for a few minutes, but it
might be used hundred times a day. Regulation reserves are
paid
related
to
their
availability and
generated
power [8], [9], [10].
IV.

This chapter is focused on the analysis of the possible usage

of Electric Vehicles as a part of electricity generation chain.
A. Baseload
It is clear from the previous section that electric vehicles are
not a suitable and economically acceptable solution for
baseload generation. However the increasing EV penetrations
have a significant influence on the baseload demand.
B. Peak power
EV could be a very interesting source for providing peak
power energy supply. The EV could be easily charged in off
peak hours and they could retail the energy back to the grid in
peak hour, when the power demand is high.
The revenues estimated from providing this service are
shown in Table V. It is assumed that only a limited number of
EV owners would be willing to share their battery stored
energy. In fact, the main purpose of EVs is to provide
transportation and to ensure enough energy for trips and aid
mode, based on renewable electricity consumed in offpeak
periods and thus contributing to the sustainability of the energy
systems. The results are estimated from the costumers point of
view and represent the possible energy storage efficiency as
well. But the scenarios do not represent the best economical
solution for the power generation chain [8].
We considered three EV penetration scenarios to the
S. Miguels fleet, as represented in Table IV. Figure 2 shows
the potential impact of EV charging and discharging on the
load curve, considering that the main purpose of EV is
transportation and that the average customer makes use of
overnight charging. Nevertheless the charging in a small scale
during the day is allowed in order to ensure the capacity for
users with over average transportation demands.
Figure 2 shows three different EV penetration scenarios and
their impact on the demand curve and gaps between businesses
as usual demand scenario and different EV penetration
scenarios.
The main limitation for providing the storage of peak power
is obviously the energy storage capacity of the batteries. The
possible useful energy (11,7kWh) was estimated in order to
provide the needed average customers transportation and in
addition to the safety range. Three cases were considered in
order to provide the maximum availability. Three phase
connection lines with the capacity of 20 kW, 25 kW and
30 kW were considered with the smaller line providing all the
capacity needed for simulation of peak shifting. The highest

C. Spinning reserves and Regulation

The main purpose of the integration of operating reserves
into the power energy system is to ensure almost instantaneous
power capacity generation. The operation reserves should
avoid the power shortage for short times during failures or load
fluctuations. Spinning reserve must deliver the requested
power in a short time, in a few minutes or seconds. There are
spinning and non-spinning operation reserves. The
non-spinning reserves are usually generators with a very quick
start. The spinning reserves are generally used in failure cases
or operators failures. The increase of the power generation is
achieved by increasing the rotors torque. Because the spinning
reserves have a very quick response and are more reliable,
most power operators require a significant part of the operating
reserves from spinning reserves. The operating reserves
capacity is usually designed at least as the capacity of the
largest generator plus a fraction of a peak load, but for a less
reliable network the operating reserve capacity should be
higher. The spinning reserves are the highest value component
of the power generation chain. However spinning reserves are
normally used about ten times a year with an average duration
TABLE IV
EV PENETRATION SCENARIOS
Scenario
LP
MP
HP

Description
Low Penetration
Middle Penetration
High Penetration
Total Fleet
S. Miguel

Year
2006
0%
0%
0%

Year
2010
1%
2%
3%

Year
2015
5%
8%
12%

Year
2020
10%
15%
20%

46704

49000

53000

55000

EV ON DIFFERENT POWER MARKETS

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Lisbon, Portugal, March 18-20, 2009

TABLE V
EV PRIVIDING STORAGE FOR PEAK HOURS

Estimated Load Courve for 2010 and Potential EVs Impact

120000
[kW]
110000

Scenario
1
2
3

6100

100000
90000
80000

Load

70000

Daily range 50% of average

Daily range 100% of average
Daily range 150% of average

261 euro/year
221 euro/year
179 euro/year

Values based on Portuguese electricity prices for the year 2008.

The estimated customers annual revenues are presented in

Table V. The results obtained show that, depending on the
vehicles consumption costs, these revenues can be higher than
the operation costs.

6200

40000
30000
20000

Without EV
EV - LP
EV - MP
EV - HP

10000

C. Spinning reserves and Regulation

EV could provide ancillary services to the grid, like spinning
reserves and regulation just by being plugged in to the grid.
Thus they can cover short operating capacity reserves and
provide voltage regulation with a quick response. This is very
relevant in economical terms as the power operator pays for
ancillary services about 4-8% of the total electricity costs [8].
To keep the grid voltage and frequency under specific
conditions according to the regulators orders, EV could
provide an asymmetrical regulation, such as a regulation up
or a regulation down. The limitations for these services are
given by stored energy in EV batteries, connection line
capacity and EV power electronics. The significant limitations
are obviously the stored energy and the connection line
capacity [8].
In order to increase the connection line capacity, the
connection should be realized as a separate connection directly
to the grid, making higher energy flows possible. In this case,
we consider the three phase connection with at least an
AYKY 4x16 mm2 cable as the end line connection with power
limitation just about 30 kW (necessary design power reserve
included).
The other limit for regulation and spinning reserves is the
quantity of energy stored in the EV. In our model, it was
considered that just the less frequent vehicle users are willing
to share their battery energy.
The available energy Pav to provide ancillary services to the
grid was estimated (1) in relation to the duration of the
service td.

0
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

22 [h] 24

Hours

Estimated Load Courve for 2015 and Potential EVs Impact

19000

120000
[kW]
110000
100000
90000
80000

22000

70000
Load

Revenue

60000
50000

60000
50000
40000
30000

Without EV
EV - LP
EV - MP
EV - HP

20000
10000
0
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

22 [h] 24

Hours

Estimated Load Courve for 2020 and Potential EVs Impact

21600

120000
[kW]
110000
100000
90000

34700

80000
70000
Load

Description

60000
50000
40000
30000

Without EV
EV - LP
EV - MP
EV - HP

20000
10000
0
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

22 [h] 24

Hours

Pav =

Fig. 2. The Estimated Daily Electricity Demand Curves with different EV

penetration levels for the years 2010, 2015 and 2020 for S. Miguel Island.

( E s D dr D bu ) e ffi
td

(1)

The normal duration of spinning reserves and regulation is

about 10 minutes. Thus, EV could provide potentially 73 kW
of energy for ancillary services. The main limitation is
obviously the power line limitation. Thus, three cases were
modeled, namely lines capacities of 20 kW, 25 kW and 30 kW.
The regulation capacity price $37.68/MW-h (MWh capacity
available to use for one hour, $1=1.33eur) was estimated from
CAISO 11/2008 average market prices. The estimated
revenues are in Table III [1], [8], [12], [14].

power lines capacities may provide other services to the

grid (as discussed in the following paragraphs).
Customers revenues were estimated in order to quantify
customers willingness to use their EV as energy storage for
peak hours. The customers revenues model is based on the
principle of vehicle charging during offpeak hours with low
electricity prices and selling the non-used energy in peak hours
with higher electricity prices. The Portuguese electricity prices
and charging and discharging efficiency are taken into account.

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V. TOTAL REVENUES FOR EVS OWNER

TABLE VI
EV PRIVIDING SPINNING RESERVES AND REGULATIONS
Scenario

Description

1
2
3

The total owners revenues were estimated according to the

previous calculations. However, the operational costs were not
taken into account, because they are not known for EV. We
can only consider that the EVs operational costs should be
lower than the operational costs of the IC vehicle (no oil
change, less gears, highly reliable power electronic). We
consider that the EV provides 100% of the average daily range
required (see table V) and would provide the relevant peak
shifting and the regulation (30kW line capacity).
In a 10-years period of future O&M time, the total costs of
the diesel IC car (present cost 35 000) will be higher than the
total cost of an EV (present costs 75 000). Total costs were
estimated for the diesel car (45 800) and for the EV
(29 312). The total costs were estimated in accordance to
present prices of electricity and gasoline while the future costs
of electricity and gasoline would significant vary and are
difficult to be estimated.

Revenue

Line capacity 20 kW
Line capacity 25 kW
Line capacity 30 kW

2848 euro/year
3561 euro/year
4273 euro/year

Values based on CAISO 2008 market prices and average regulation

reserves usage for European Energy Market UCTE [11], [12], [14].

R r = L lim RC p t plug + E sold

E buy
E ffi

(2)

Estimated prices for each type of line connection are shown

in Table III. The estimated revenue (2) has two different parts,
the price for capacity available and the price for the energy
provided. The EV revenue from providing ancillary
services (Rr), like regulation are estimated for different
connection lines capacities Llim, see Table VI and (2), and
prices for providing regulation capacity RCp during plugged
time tplug. The second part of the equation (2) represents the
revenues from sold energy Esold minus the price for bought
energy Ebuy with corresponding invertors and storage
efficiencies Effi. The amount of purchased energy for providing
regulation was estimated from statistic information for
electricity production and regulation energy, which represents
the share of around 0,05% (08/2008) [3], [8], [11], [12].
The results obtained from the modeling are represented in
Table VI, and show that total revenue obviously depends on
connection line capacity and the time available to provide
ancillary services to the grid. The worse scenario has been
taken into account (only 25% of available capacity is
purchased), and, for example, if one considers the average
prices used for regulation energy in middle Europe
(~0,048/kWh, 25CZK=1, Czech Republic, 08/2008),
significant higher revenues could be obtained just thus
changing the RCp value in (2) [12].

VI. EV AND RENEWABLE ENERGY (BROTHER MODEL)

The estimated prices and EV impact on the load curve in as
provided by our model, were considered as a theoretical
maximum impact in order to maximize the EV owners
revenues. However, the real impact would have to consider
also many other variables. One of the most important issues in
S. Miguel is the renewable energy production (wind farms and
geothermal energy). All the models consider the installations
of new geothermal and wind farm till the year 2013.
Figure 4 shows the Estimated EV impact to the load curve in
year 2013 and the relationship with wind energy production, as
modeled using the TIMES energy software tool while making
use of the specific economic data of So Miguel. In the case of
S. Miguel, the wind energy is the most intermittent factor in
renewable energy production. It is considered that EV are
charging only with excess energy from renewable energy in
base load hours, in order to provide the peak load shifting. The
results do also show that charging EV from fuel power plant
and discharging in peak hours with lower efficiency than direct
production has from economical and ecological point of view,
to be avoided.
EV batteries could be suitably used for peak hours shifting
for higher penetration of renewable, enabling a higher
renewable part of baseload electricity production.

Estimated Load Curve for 2013 and Potential EVs Impact

(Economical and Wind Availability Factors Included)
1,0

100
[MWh]
90

Without EV

0,9

EV - LP
EV - MP

Load

0,8

EV - HP
Wind Availability

70

0,7

60

0,6

50

0,5

40

0,4

30

0,3

20

0,2

10

0,1

Wind availability

80

0,0

0
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

22 [h] 24

Hours

Fig. 3. The Estimated Daily Electricity Demand Curves with different EV

penetration levels for years 2013.The Economical and Wind production
Factors were included for S. Miguel Island.

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VII. CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Electric vehicles are capable of providing a set of interesting

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owners. The operational consumption could be sufficiently
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The scenarios simulating different EV penetrations show
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A suitable grid connection could also ensure the adequate back
up capacity to increase renewable energy, promoting a more
sustainable energy system.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thanks to FCT (Fundao para a
Cincia e a Tecnologia) and MIT-Portugal program for
financial support and helpfully notes.

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